NABUUR.com

Many thanks and appreciation to Michael Norton of The 365 Ways Blog for putting me in his newsletter. It is always exciting to be included in something that you look up to, and The 365 Ways Blog is a wonderful inspiration for me - take a moment and look it over.

Almost immediately today I received an email about a great website, NABUUR.com, that links people with access to a computer and a passion for volunteering with opportunities to volunteer your computer skills around the world. Many organizations can use help, and you don't need to leave the comfort of your house. While I haven't yet offered my services it looks to be a really useful website which could use as much help as possible. If you or anyone you know has time and knows their way around a computer please pass the website along. Here is a video of a man who volunteers for the organization.

What 2008 Will Bring

Happy New Year to All! My how fast time flies when you enjoy yourself. I can't believe that A)It is 2008; and B)I am 24 years old. It just doesn't seem right.

My holidays were about as relaxing and productive as I could have hoped for. While I didn't finish much of anything I set out to, I have never done as much quality thinking as I did during this break.

In looking back at these first few months of blogging I have come to a few conclusions.
1)I am going to try writing more about global activities. While I will stick to my guns and continue writing about ways people can change the world, I think it is important for people to know more about what is going on so they can consciously try to fix it.

2)I am going to comment more on philanthropic and social enterprise news. These are two major factors in the movement towards a better world and I don't comment on them enough.

3)I want to post more often. I feel as though too much time passes between postings as I am sure you also do. I have far more to say than I am saying.

4)There needs to be more dialogue. I would like to hear more from everyone, whether you agree or more importantly if you disagree.

I have taken a few moments to think about my predictions for the coming year around the world and what ground we will make on creating a better world.

1)The creation of the Bali Action Plan for reversing climate change will start a larger dialogue on how to meet new standards for emissions and green house gases. 2008 will be the year when we see new alignment on a global vision for how to curb global warming.

2)Social Enterprise and triple bottom line business models will see an explosion of new organizations and products entering the marketplace. More choice of products of this ilk will allow consumers more choice and likely lower costs. These are good things as they will likely face greater scrutiny. Transparency will be the key. If these businesses adopt policies of transparency and releasing more figures to consumers on exactly where money is going (like not-for-profits do) then consumers will be less hesitant and more accepting of spending their money on goods that do good.

3)A new AIDS vaccine will enter into trials and produce better results than the first version which was abandoned this past year. It may not work, but it will bring scientists closer than they have been to finding a preventative measure that will stop the spread of the worlds most deadly virus.

4)More billionaires will follow the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and most recently Barron Hilton (Hilton Hotels) into the world of philanthropy. Those with money will begin to realize that having so much of it doesn't guarantee happiness and in fact giving it away does.

5)Generation Y and younger people around the world will begin to make their mark on the world. This age range is already being described as unaccepting of the current state of the world, and willing to dedicate their lives to changing it. Young people will be seen as having more power than ever before to change the world, and older generations will start to look up to them instead of looking down. My friend Kevin has said to me (and in his blog) that young people are successful precisely because they don't know any better. They have yet to let cynicism take hold, or to learn what is impossible, so they are willing to try. It is no mistake that the people who have been so successful as of late are of this generation.

6)Social media such as Facebook and MySpace will continue to grow in popularity only to be questioned for what is missing. A new social media will rise which brings back the component of human interaction. People will begin to understand that while it is wonderful to make the connection it means nothing if action isn't to follow. These websites are useful so long as we recognize their limits. Websites like change.org will grow into a much larger hub of charitable activity and wiserearth.org will become a meeting and congregating place for Agents of Change.

7)Collaboration will become the next wave of not-for-profit activity. While charities, not-for-profits and NGO's currently resist working together they will begin to recognize that working as a team will be necessary to make any headway. Each and every problem has become so interconnected and intertwined with the next that it will become impossible for any one organization to make a difference. A comprehensive approach which relies on collaboration will be the only way for organizations specializing in particular areas to truly address their specialization. As I said in a conversation I had the other day, "You can't fix one thing and hope it fixes all the others. You have to try to fix all of them together in order to fix the one thing."

I will leave you with this thought. It is a new year, with new opportunities, new relationships, new everything. Embrace this chance to start fresh, to bring about change, and to live the life you dream of. It is never too late.

New Years Resolutions

This will quite likely be my last post of the year. I would like to thank all of you who read this blog and provide your feedback - while I try to inspire people it is you who inspire me. It has been a busy few weeks in my life, even though I am on holidays. I will have a few things to announce in the new year which I am rather excited about, and I will try to post my Davos video before too long. I just have to figure out how to put it on video and post it to here and to Youtube.

This year brought many exciting changes in my life, and just a few things I wish I could have done differently. I think that is the case for most everyone, and the few who wouldn't change a thing can count themselves extremely lucky. Life has many ups a downs but I try to remember that with out the downs the ups just wouldn't exist. As we approach the new year I think everyone should think about a resolution. It is a goal for the next year of your life and the carrot at the end of the stick.

This year think about telling people your resolution. Write it down and put it on your bathroom mirror. Make it a solid goal - not just something you are thinking about and can easily forget about or let go - force yourself to make it real. Put yourself in a position to succeed and don't just create a resolution for the sake of having one.

We all have dreams, some of us over the years have been let down when we don't achieve our dreams, or feel scared to attempt accomplishing our dreams, and we are all conditioned to believe that dreams can never be reality. It is just not true - none of it. As the old saying goes, "If you believe then you will succeed" (or something like that). Dreams are not made to be broken, they are made to be accomplished. Failure to attempt is where real failure happens. If you try and it doesn't work then that is just a lesson on how you should try again next. Check out this video and get a taste of just what can happen when you dream.


My new years resolution is simple. Change the world little by little. I want to get my Ideal World book project up and running (which I will talk about in the new year), I want to graduate from International Project Management and get out into the field, I want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, I want to lose some weight (preferably a lot of weight haha) and I want to write blog posts more frequently. Scratch that - I will accomplish all these things. I dream big and I won't settle for anything less than my dreams. Anything in life is possible, we just need to dream it first and then go out and do it. As Nelson Mandela said, "It always seems impossible until it is done."

A Lesson on Values

My mom cut this story out of a newsletter she received and passed it along to me so that I could share it. The story is titled "A Lovely Story with a True Moral" by Sean Mackay, and it goes like this:
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There's a mousetrap in the house! There's a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There's a mousetrap in the house! There's a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There's a mousetrap in the house! There's a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse, I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mousetrap... alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came to her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember - when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

This story gives us all a chance to think about our values. For me it is a reminder of the value of friends and family. We get caught up in our own lives sometimes and neglect to recognize that those around us are sometimes dealing with their own problems. It is a wakeup call for me to be more observant and make sure that no problem is too petty or small to lend a hand or a shoulder for. Take this opportunity to think of what this story makes you think about and if you are there enough for your family and friends to reach out to.

Happy holidays to all.

B Corporation

For those of you who know me, you know that I am a proponent of business being a tool in the process of change. I do not believe it is a dirty word that insinuates capitalist, environmental destroying, corporate thug companies. I believe that is the people that run them and that if we hope to change the world we need to change the character of the people who run business.

This shift has certainly begun to take place with the rise in popularity for Corporate Social Responsibility guidelines for most every corporation, the rise in Social Enterprises entering the market place and making a real go of it, and the rise in MBA programs integrating environmental ethics, CSR, and non-profit management courses into the core program.

The next step may be in the works. I came across this great new website called the B Corporation . It is an association of businesses that stand for social change. They have to go through a grading process in order to join the association which then markets the businesses as being good and doing well. The tag line reads, "Setting the new corporate standard for social and environmental performance."

The founding members are companies like Seventh Generation, a household and personal care product brand, Better World Books, a book business with a triple bottom line, and Moka Joe Coffee, a wholesaler of 100% fair trade, organic coffee, amongst other things.

All the businesses associated with B Corporation are seeking a shift, and to create change within the business world. While none of these businesses may become the next Ikea, or Apple, they represent possibility. I have said it before but I will say it again, we are approaching a tipping point - one that I am not sure yet which way it will tip. We could move towards a world where the existence of B Corporation is unnecessary because every company will approach business with a double or triple bottom line approach, OR companies could continue to degrade the environment, and break every moral and ethical code we can design in the pursuit of the almighty dollar.

It is up to us, the consumer, to push this one way or the other. We can choose to support the 'B Corporation' or we can choose to support the 'Corporation'. I for one am glad to see the choice and distinction. The world we dream of does not have to be a dream and I hope that everyone wakes up to a new, better, reality.

Your Ideas in Davos

I came across this great new program on Youtube that lets anyone upload a video that has the chance to be seen by world leaders, global economists and some of the most influential people around the world at the Davos meetings in 2008. Just film your answer to the following question and then upload it to Youtube. The question is:

"What one thing do you think that countries, companies, or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?"

Watch the following quick video for more information


You can also check out the website outlining the project with a little more detail here

Videos will be voted on starting January 1st and the winners will be screened January 23-27 at the World Economic Forum.

This is one spectacular way to have your idea and opinion shared and heard. If anyone has any ideas now is the time to voice them. I am going to be thinking about this one for the next few days and maybe I will post my filmed idea before January 1st. I would be really excited to see some of your ideas though so if you decided to participate then send me the link to your videos so I can bask in your great ideas!

Cards that Care

It came to the end of the semester in my International Project Management Program and we decided, as a group, to rejoice and celebrate the occasion by throwing a holiday party. On Thursday I participated in acts 2 and 3 of my 12 acts of holiday kindness.

As a group we decided that it would be nice if instead of doing the usual Secret Santa gift trading that we would take the $10 or so dollars that each of us would have spent and pooled it to give as one big donation to our chosen charity, the Girl Child Network. As a group we are making a $475 donation! While none of us needed another small gimmicky gift, we knew that if we pooled our money together that whatever organization received the donation would use it towards some amazing project that was sure to make a much bigger difference in someone else's life.

Act number 3 was something I had though of long ago, and is something that is so simple and yet, I think, impactful. I decided to write each of my classmates a Holiday card with a personalized message (I used Hallmark's Product(REd) holiday cards). I told each of them what I liked most about them and why I thought each of them was an amazing person. Many people write Holiday cards this time of the season but they are always so generic. They say "Happy Holidays" and the card givers name(s). This year how about writing something more. Something that is sure to make the recipients day. Tell them something positive that you think about them, tell them how much you really care, tell them they mean a lot to you. We rarely take these opportunities to say what we feel and then live to regret not having done so.

Acts of kindness around the holidays don't need to be big and fancy. To many people it is the small things, the details, that they really notice around the holidays. As the old saying goes, "love thy neighbor". Show someone you care, someone who wouldn't normally receive such gifts and love. If you are the member of a holiday gathering this year, take the chance to gather funds for a donation. If you are sending out cards make them personal. Let us, together, make the holidays MORE than just an opportunity to give and receive gifts. Let us put the THOUGHT back into the holidays.